1st Century and Earlier Septuagint

[Pwrlftr]

Often times when discussing the canon someone will throw out that the NT quotes from the septuagint.

Okay, so what do we know about the first century and earlier septuagint(s) and how do we know it?

Were there different versions of the septuagint?

What books did the septuagint(s) contain?

Do we know which septuagint the NT quotes from?

To the best of my knowledge the manuscripts we have are all Christain copies that date only to the fourth century. Does anyone else have information on the septuagint that the NT quotes from?

 

[Mannyfit75]

Often times when discussing the canon someone will throw out that the NT quotes from the septuagint.

Okay, so what do we know about the first century and earlier septuagint(s) and how do we know it?

The Septuagint aka LXX. Here is some background on this ancient text.

According to Wikipedia it states;

The Septuagint (IPA: /ˈsɛptuədʒɪnt/), or simply “LXX”, is a collection of Jewish scriptures, largely the Hebrew Bible, in Koine Greek, translated in stages between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE in Alexandria.[1]

It incorporates the oldest of several ancient translations of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. The word septuaginta[2] means “seventy” in Latin and derives from a tradition that seventy-two Jewish scholars (seventy being the nearest round number) translated the Pentateuch (or Torah) from Hebrew into Greek for one of the Ptolemaic kings, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, 285–246 BCE.[3][4] Since Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), Greek had become the Lingua franca of the eastern Mediterranean.

The Septuagint includes some books that are not in the Hebrew Bible. Many Protestant Bibles follow the Jewish canon and exclude these books. Eastern Orthodox Christians use the Septuagint itself.

The Septuagint was held with great respect in ancient times; Philo and Josephus ascribed divine inspiration to its authors.[4] Besides the Old Latin versions, the LXX is also the basis for the Slavonic, Syro-Hexaplar (but not the Peshitta), Old Armenian, Old Georgian and Coptic versions of the Old Testament.[5] Of significance for all Christians and for bible scholars, the LXX is quoted by the Christian New Testament and by the Apostolic Fathers. While Jews have not used the LXX in worship or religious study since the second century AD, recent scholarship has brought renewed interest in it in Judaic Studies. Some of the Dead Sea scrolls attest to Hebrew texts other than those on which the Masoretic Text was based; in many cases, these newly found texts accord with the LXX version. The oldest surviving codices of LXX (Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus) date to the fourth century AD.[4]

((continue))

 

[Mannyfit75]

Were there different versions of the septuagint?

The Codex Vaticanus (1209 AD).

A recent interlinear translation (2007) is The Apostolic Bible Polyglot, which includes the Greek books of the Hebrew canon along with the Greek New Testament, all numerically coded to the AB-Strong numbering system, and set in monotonic orthography. Included in the printed edition is The Lexical Concordance of The Apostolic Bible and The English-Greek Index. Online is The comprehensive Concordance of The Apostolic Bible, The Analytical Lexicon and a grammar.

The third translation is being made for use for the Eastern Orthodox.

What books did the septuagint(s) contain?

The Books of the Septuagint Contains the following these Books click here.

Do we know which septuagint the NT quotes from?

This website Septuagint in the New Testament shows some through reference of LXX cited in the NT. The main site is Notes on the LXX

To the best of my knowledge the manuscripts we have are all Christain copies that date only to the fourth century. Does anyone else have information on the septuagint that the NT quotes from?

kalvesmaki.com/LXX/NTChart.htm Here is a chart and consider this link as well.

scripturecatholic.com/septuagint.html

 

[Pwrlftr]

The Codex Vaticanus (1209 AD).

A recent interlinear translation (2007) is The Apostolic Bible Polyglot, which includes the Greek books of the Hebrew canon along with the Greek New Testament, all numerically coded to the AB-Strong numbering system, and set in monotonic orthography. Included in the printed edition is The Lexical Concordance of The Apostolic Bible and The English-Greek Index. Online is The comprehensive Concordance of The Apostolic Bible, The Analytical Lexicon and a grammar.

The third translation is being made for use for the Eastern Orthodox.

The Books of the Septuagint Contains the following these Books click here.

This website Septuagint in the New Testament shows some through reference of LXX cited in the NT. The main site is Notes on the LXX

kalvesmaki.com/LXX/NTChart.htm Here is a chart and consider this link as well.

scripturecatholic.com/septuagint.html

Manny,

I appreciate the links and will get to them but do you know of any information on the septuagint used in the first century or earlier?

The Codex Vaticanus only dates back to around the 4th.

 

[Mannyfit75]

Manny,

I appreciate the links and will get to them but do you know of any information on the septuagint used in the first century or earlier?

The Codex Vaticanus only dates back to around the 4th.

I know it does. You can do the research on it online to find out. I tried looking for an earlier translation myself. Remember many of the early manuscripts were destroyed and the only thing we have are copies. The Codex Vaticanus is just one of those copies.

 

[Mannyfit75]

I recommend you take a look at this website. Like I said if you are looking for earlier translations, they aren’t one because the one we have are copies.

gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/translations.stm

Here are some excerpts.

We do not have any of the original manuscripts of the books that have been included in the Bible. All we have is copies of copies. Most of the original manuscripts of the Old Testament were written in Hebrew, although a few chapters of Ezra and Daniel were recorded in Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The books of the New Testament were first written in Greek.

The first translations of the Bible were of the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint (SEP-too-a-jint) was a Greek translation written about three centuries before the birth of Christ. Two other early translations, composed after the birth of Christ, were the Peshitta in Syriac and the Vulgate in Latin. These three translations, the Septuagint, Peshitta, and Vulgate became the official translations of the Old Testament for the Greek-, Syriac-, and Latin-speaking churches respectively. Each also became the basis for other translations of the Bible.